The Green Well

Well I'm back. As you could probably tell it has been extremely busy around my place lately, hence the lack of going out to new places and writing about them. In fact this one should have been written over a month ago, but like I said, super busy. I guess that happens when you are expecting your first child. There is so much to do, and all of your time and extra money seems to be funneled into getting ready for the baby. That doesn't leave much to go out and try new places for this blog. For instance, the last few places we have gone have consisted of Jimmy John's, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Uccello's. And I have already written about Uccello's before. And nothing has changed for me to re-write on it. Wow, I am rambling on. OK, without further adieu, here is The Green Well.

We had a night out with our friends, Nick and Julia, at the beginning of December and we all felt like The Green Well would be a good choice. It is a place that Mel and I had been wanting to go to for a while. It is located on Cherry St. right across from Brewery Vivant and The Grove. I would say that it fits in between those two places, with the Grove higher end and Vivant a brewery. Like the Grove it has a great atmosphere.

I chose the Korean Braised Beef and Noodles. It is under their "Tweener" menu, which is said to be between a starter and entree. In all honesty, it is a big plate of food that I couldn't finish. The beef was tender and had a nice spice to it. Not as in hot, but as in actual spice. It definitely had a Chinese five spice flavor going on, which went well with the ginger beef broth the egg noodles were in. Add to that the chopped, roasted peanuts for texture and cilantro for a little fresh pop. The best part was the egg that was left runny, so the yolk mingled in the sauce and added some creaminess to it. I really liked this plate and the interplay of all the flavors and textures.

Nick ordered the sage spaetzle. The spaetzle was infused with sage and came topped with cabbage, sweet potatoes, caramelized apple, red onion, pecans and goat cheese with some brown butter on the bottom. The spaetzle was cooked nicely and had some toothiness to it. The sage flavor was very subtle. There was a lot going on, and it didn't seem like it would all work, but it does because of the goat cheese. It added a tangy note that balanced out the heavy sweet (sweet potatoes, apples, and onions) and nutty (pecans, brown butter) flavors and really brought everything together. Without it, the plate would have fallen down and would not have been very good at all.

Mel and Julia both ordered the Green Well Burger. It was a good burger, but fairly standard fare. But standard fare can be really good if done right, and this was done right. It is a simple, thick beef patty topped with bacon, your choice of cheese, caramelized onion, lettuce and tomato on a locally made bun. When you combine bacon and cheese you have a recipe for a good burger. And it is hard to mess that up unless you over cook the bacon, onion, or beef. Thankfully, these were cooked to order perfectly. Would I order this from the menu? I don't know. There are other offerings I would rather try, but that isn't to discourage anyone from ordering this on a night out. It is a good burger.

We also ordered dessert. Mel and I got the caramel cheese cake while Nick and Julia ordered an apple cobbler like dish served in a cast iron skillet with a scoop of ice cream. Both were very good. Both were on the heavier side of desserts. And both were very sweet. But both were great ending so the meal. The cheesecake was cooked perfectly and the salted caramel was a nice foil to the cheese cake. The crust was perfectly done as well. And in the skillet everything went together very nicely, with the hot/cold interplay and the savory/sweet components were balanced nicely.

I would definitely like to go back at some point to try some of the other offering and I gladly recommend it. Good food, good atmosphere, with good friends. It's a recipe for success.